Win for Gladys Shollei as Supreme Court overturns her sacking as Chief Registrar

Shollei was sacked in October 2013 by the JSC for allegedly misusing Ksh.2.2 billion during her tenure at the judiciary regulator. She was also accused of financial mismanagement, insubordination and misconduct in the line of duty.

The Supreme Court however ruled on Thursday that Shollei’s sacking violated her right to fair administrative action since JSC, despite making 87 allegations, failed to validate the reasons behind the Uasin Gishu woman representative’s sacking.

“The least that JSC would have done was to enclose its reasons in the removal letter, the same way it enclosed the allegations against Ms Shollei in its letter dated September 10, 2013,” said the Supreme Court.

Shollei’s access to information, the Supreme Court added, was also breached by JSC as the committee barred her from accessing crucial documents that she could have used to counter the allegations made against her.

The court consequently labelled the third Schedule to the Judicial Service Act as undemocratic since it makes it difficult for judicial officers being probed to access information to defend themselves.  

It likewise decreed that the case be forwarded to the Employment and Labour Relations Court to determine compensation owed to Shollei by the JSC for breaching the aforementioned rights.

“We find that JSC’s reliance of the provision in Section 23 of the Third Schedule to limit Ms Shollei’s right to access to information guaranteed in the Constitution was unfounded,” the Supreme Court judges added.

The court however dismissed an argument by Shollei in which she insinuated that she was not given ample time to counter the allegations facing her, citing that the 39 days that she had been allotted was more than enough.